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The Dayton Marcos were a Negro league baseball team based from Dayton, Ohio that played during the early twentieth century.
Contents
Founding
The Dayton Marcos history predates the formal organized leagues of Negro league baseball. As an independent team, and also as the only black team in the Ohio-Indiana League they played black and white teams all over the country throughout the 1910s.
Old newspaper accounts and fading memories are some of the only sources of information on the Marcos. They played in the then newly formed Negro National League, which was formed by Rube Foster. The Marcos were one of the original eight teams to play in the first organized major Negro league to survive a full season.
At that time, the Marcos were owned by Daytonian Moses Moore, a real estate agent. Moore owned the San Marco Hotel and apparently named his team after that enterprise. He also built Dahomey Park, the first black-owned and operated amusement park in the United States. Local newspapers sometimes referred to the team as "Moses Moore's Marcos."
Negro National League Years
During this time, the Marcos did play against some strong competition, including that of Satchel Paige. In 1920, the team was headed by 36-year-old Candy Jim Taylor. They played their first game in the league against the Chicago Giants on June 12, 1920, at Westwood Field on Western Avenue, which is now James H. McGee Blvd.
Barnstorming years
Dayton left the league after one year and a last place finish, and played independently until the mid-1920s. They then rejoined briefly for part of 1926, when they finished in second-to-last and left the league once again.
Demise
The Marcos survived until World War II.